Bowen v. Noel

Summary

The Court of Appeals? No—the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the grant of habeas relief because Noel’s appellate counsel was not deficient for failing to raise an impeachment argument that trial counsel had not preserved. The Court also held that, even assuming counsel was deficient for not challenging the exclusion of evidence of Williams’s prior violent acts as proof of third-party guilt, Noel failed to show a reasonable probability of a different appellate outcome. The Court therefore reversed the habeas court’s judgment.